Mistaken
by Leishe
Summary: Two Uchihas. Two sides to the clan. One afternoon, a daughter thinks about how everything was mistaken. implied SasuSaku, ItachiShizune


**Mistaken**

_by leishe_

**.0o0.**

It was almost too much for her to stand.

There they were, standing in the middle of their crowd of loved ones. Friends, family, well-wishers and uninvited guests, like herself. The three of them looked so much like the perfect family, with the smiling mother and the smiling father and the laughing baby caught between blowing a spit bubble out of its mouth and shoving its small thumb up his father's nose.

It was absolutely sickening, she knew, but for some reason, she had to be there. It was what her father would have wanted, had he still been sane. And her mother too, but she was gone. And so the girl stayed, sitting sullenly, with her legs crossed and her arms folded against her chest.

The mother was beautiful. She had soft-looking pink hair, which reminded the girl of cherry blossoms. Clear green eyes that were a little big twinkled with delight as she talked with the guests of the party, all the while bouncing her baby son to that he wouldn't cry. And he didn't. The mother, it seemed, kept the attention of the loud blond man who ate too much, and also, the strange man with a bowl cut and thick eyebrows. They kept looking at the baby and making faces so that it would laugh. And it did. But then it burst into tears when the blond man tried to tickle its tummy.

That was when she saw the father shoot a sharp glare at them both.

Something caught in her throat when she saw him. He was still young, like the mother was, but there was this thing, this utterly familiar thing that struck her when she saw his eyes and his hair and his face. _He looks exactly like my dad_, she thought, alarmed. The father had dark, dark eyes that seemed like an endless void, except when he was with the mother or the baby. That was when they came alive with a flicker of emotion. His hair was even darker than his eyes, and it was as blacker than a crow's shining frock. Whenever someone annoyed his wife or made the baby cry, he would stop what he was doing and glare the offender down until he/she was reduced to nothing but dust.

It was very uncanny.

The girl cocked her head to one side and remembered what her father had looked like. She had seen him only once for twice in her entire life, and now that her mother was dead, she didn't expect to see any more of him. Her father looked very similar to the father at the party. Well, except that his hair was longer, maybe, and the way his mouth twisted into a smile that could not be called a smile.

"…hi."

The soft voice made her jerk her head to the left. She met a pair of eyes. They were white. _Whatever happened to the pupils?_, she mused absently.

"I'm Hinata."

"I know."

There was a small pause in between them, and the woman shifted uncomfortably. Practice, Naruto had told her. He'd said that everyone here was supposed to be friendly, but knowing Sasuke, maybe some weren't. But then Sakura-chan would fix it, he said. The mild-mannered Hinata agreed and had decided to pick a person in the living room of the Uchiha residence who didn't seem to be occupied with doing anything at the moment.

Her eyes had landed on a bored-looking teenager, with brown hair, pale skin and a face that looked very familiar. Her odd maroon eyes were focused intensely on Sasuke and Sakura and the little baby.

Hinata hadn't remembered seeing her before.

"…are you a friend?" she asked shyly, glancing at the floor.

The girl didn't respond right away. She took her cup from the table and drained it, then cleared her throat. A little more time was spent on observing the Uchiha family.

"Not really."

"…oh." Hinata thought about this for a moment, before regarding the girl with a slightly suspicious glance. It was very unlike her.

"Then you are a relative?"

A small smirk played up at the ends of the girl's lips. "You could say that…" Now her maroon eyes were on the face of the baby, who was currently being carried by his father, and being fawned over by Tenten and Ino.

Hinata let out a sigh. Obviously, this ill-attempted conversation was going nowhere fast. She assumed the teenager wasn't much of a talker. The way she held herself said it all, too. Picking a seat farthest away from the people, detaching herself from the life of the partly, yet remaining intensely observant of everything that happened. Neither Sasuke and Sakura had interacted with this strange girl from the beginning, come to think of it…

The Hyuuga heiress felt herself stiffen a little. Who was she? A spy from some other village? But then a spy would talk to people and try to find out details of things. The girl just sat and watch. she didn't even eat anything. And orange juice didn't count.

The white eyes widened and she came a little closer to realization.

"You're not related to Sakura-chan, are you." It was not a question, so it didn't need to be answered. Yet the girl answered it in her mind.

No, I'm not related to Sakura-chan. I don't have pretty pink hair and pretty green eyes and a nice smile and a husband and a family. I don't have a baby and friends and people who love me too much. All I have is a dead mother and an evil father and a life away from everything. No…I guess you could say I'm from somewhere else…

Somewhere else. Her mind flashed to the kind woman with brown hair. She was hugging a pig to her bosom and following someone around. And then it flashed to a man with black hair and blood-colored eyes and a hypnotic glare. He smelled like bones and forest. Come to think of it, she was pretty lucky that he hadn't killed her before.

"Oh. Then you must be from the Uch—"

"Hinata-chan!" The mother called to her, "It's time for the candle blowing and pictures! We'd hate to leave you out!" a smile accented the last part of the sentence. From somewhere at the back, the blond man echoed with a "Yeah!" Hinata smiled a little and glanced at the girl. She didn't appear to mind.

"I have to….go." her voice was even smaller.

"Sure." Maroon eyes followed the woman to the front, where everyone was clustered around the father, who was glaring into the camera, the baby, who was oblivious to everything like all babies were, and the mother, who was smiling her heart out. The scene made the girl's insides squelch just a little bit, but she held it down.

FLASH!

And soon afterwards, it was all over. The crowd of guests thinned out little by little, and the servants began to pack things up. The girl exited the living room to loiter around in front of the house entrance, when she heard someone call her. By her name.

"Saki? Saki-chan?"

The suffix irked her, but she turned around anyway. The mother was standing there, smiling and looking awfully grateful. _How did she know my name?_ Saki stared blankly at her radiant face. It didn't occur to her to say anything remotely significant. Before she knew it, white, delicate hands had enveloped her own pale ones, and some warmth spread out to her fingertips. She was surprised, but hid it.

"Thank you for coming." The statement was simple, but the mother's sincerity stirred something within her.

"Sasuke and I were very glad to see you."

Saki felt herself nod once. It was a stiff nod, lacking conviction and life at the same time. She felt like a robot. Turning around, she walked out of the Uchiha compound, not saying anything. It felt good to be back on the wide, open streets. Less stuffy. There was more air and more people and the sky was heavy with unspilt rain. It was a good afternoon.

Half an hour later, her feet led her to a place she had visited before. When her mother was alive she used to go there a lot, and sometimes would bring Saki along. But that was long ago. Now, it meant nothing. Saki did not bother to knock. The door was opened for her. She didn't go in. The Godaime stood there, looking at her with an unreadable expression. She still looked the same as she did ten years ago, with wheat-colored pigtails, smooth fair skin and a body to die for. Tsunade leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms over her chest. Saki's eyes scanned for the pig, but it was nowhere.

"So." The Hokage began. There was a very long pause afterwards, as the girl stared into her eyes, trying to drill them in with her glare. It didn't work. There was a bit of silence, but it was broken almost immediately.

"Did you see your cousin?"

Saki nodded again robotically.

"He was cute, wasn't he. Looked just like his dad, but he had Sakura's eyes."

The old woman was ranting. Another nod.

Tsunade spared the teenager before her a brief glance. There was something rather amused about her right now. The Hokage didn't give the idea a second thought. She cleared her throat and commented on how pretty the sky looked this afternoon. Saki was as silent as a rock. Moved like one, too. How the child had spawned from her beloved assistant Shizune, she did not know. But Saki did look like her. In a way.

"Have you seen your father recently?"

It was a stupid question. They both knew before Tsunade had uttered it, but it had to be asked. Pointless, but necessary. Saki did not understand.

"No."

Her maroon eyes flickered to the Godaime's face. They held a million questions. Mostly whys. Questions that Tsunade felt that she could not even begin to start answering. Saki shuffled her feet and turned to leave, stepping lifelessly down the shallow stone stairway. There was nothing more for here here.

The woman in the doorway didn't follow her, choosing instead to just stay there and watch as the figure disappeared into the distance.

Hours later, Saki was sitting on top of her mother's grave. She never really looked at the stone marker, instead contenting herself with tracing the letters of the name that was carved there. She could read it with her eyes closed, like the blind people from where she used to live sometimes did.

Saki shut her eyes and felt the stone surface, and the scratches. Her fingers touched the character "shi", and then down to "zu", then "ne." A small sigh escaped her mouth, and then her eyes almost flew open.

There were new markings on the stone. Saki struggled with her eyelids, willing them to stay down. Clumsily, she ran her thin, pale fingers over the new etchings. They were familiar. It was a frightening feeling. Something got stuck in her throat again, like what happened when she had seen the father at the party. But this was just a little different.

Finally, Saki's eyes opened. And they widened. There, in the middle of her mother's grave marker, was carved the famous Uchiha fan. The lines were a little crooked, but each etch and mark was made with sureness and determination. Engraved into the stone surface like that, it was fairly obvious who the carver had been.

She rested her back against the stone, clutching the wet grass beside her. Some thunder rumbled in the thick grey clouds above her. It would be raining very soon.

Saki wondered why it had to be like this. Why her mother was dead, why her father was not, and why she had been born in the first place. This was the other side of the prestigious Uchiha Clan. The dark, twisted, sad side, where there were no smiles and babies and birthday cakes. Where no one had a big crowd of friends come over and have a party, and where no one felt very safe.

The first fat, wet drop landed on her cheek. It rolled down to her chin and dribbled off.

She was a mistake, Saki concluded. Everything was a mistake with her father's side of the family. Mistaken from the very beginning. Itachi wasn't supposed to murder his clan. He wasn't supposed to corrupt his little brother and turn him into a sadistic killer, like he himself was. Luckily, that part of the mistake had been fixed, but still, there was a lot to go on and on and on about forever. Like the part where Itachi wasn't supposed to come back to Konoha one summer and find Shizune in the Hokage's office. And the part where she wasn't supposed to fall in love with him. And then the part where Saki wasn't supposed to have been born.

A deep sigh shuddered out of her chest.

More droplets landed on her face, and then it began to pour. The water falling from the sky seemed to pin her to that spot, sitting quietly on top of her mother's grave, with the rain making it impossible to tell whether tears had mixed in with the liquid running down her cheeks.

**.0o0. **

Somewhere else, a man was also sitting, but this time inside a cave, and in front of a fire. He cast a glance out at the thundering rain, and wondered for a moment where his daughter was.

**.0o0. **

Note: Sorry, just had to do something itachi/shizune. XD haha...but, if course, not without a dash of SasuSaku. All reviews are gladly accepted, and if anything is wrong about the story facts or anything, please do not hesitate to tell. :) Hmm...I guess...this story is for psychedelic aya, who is the first i've told of my plan/s. :D**  
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